Business & Tech

Family Business Tries to Focus on the Community

The owners of Great Freight Outlet Store try to make customers feel at home.

As people walk into on Chippewa Road, Emily Palstring makes an effort to stop whatever she’s doing and greet them. Palstring, who owns the store with her husband, Steve, wants people to feel comfortable when they enter.  

“We wanted that small-town feel,” Palstring said.

Palstring and her husband purchased the store nearly two years ago. The store has a variety of products for sale, from children’s toys to groceries to car parts like windshield wipers. Everything they sell is purchased from manufacturers, she said, and nothing is used. Their stock varies, and the store might look a bit different every time customers visit.

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The previous owners had been looking to sell, Palstring said, and they decided to give running a family business a try. The husband and wife team, who live in Medina, said they enjoy working together. 

“We make a good team,” Emily Palstring said. 

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The couple’s four children, who range in age from 8 to 14, hang out around the store from time to time, Emily Palstring said, and her mother helps out a few days a week. It’s a true family business, she added. 

And the couple tries to give back to the community. They try to tailor the stock in the store to the needs and requests of their customers, Steve Palstring said. And soon, the Palstrings plan to begin offering Electronic Benefits Transfer-approved purchases in the store.

Emily Palstring said they also try to support local businesses and help out whenever they can. They can’t make big donations, she said, so she tries to give people a space in the store. That might range from plastering the door with signs for local events to putting up a bin for donations for soldiers to providing a place for a local Avon representative to leave her booklets.

Cheryl Kilroy, an Avon representative from Macedonia, met the Palstrings last summer. She said she used to stop in the store when it was run by the previous owners, but hadn’t been by for years. When she met Emily Palstring, she tried to give her a booklet. Kilroy said Emily Palstring declined, but quickly offered her a corner to leave her books. She stops by every few weeks to replenish the supply, and she said she’s gotten some customers from the store. 

“Running your own business is so hard,” Kilroy said. Leaving her books at places like Great Freight helps build her customer base. She’s told her customers about the store, as well. 

“We advertise for each other,” she said. 

Another example of the Palstring’s efforts to give back to the community sits on their checkout counter. Elaine Kling, a resident of Brecksville, sells jewelry that she and her daughter and daughter-in-law create. All the proceeds go to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Kling said. She called the Palstrings amazing, noting that after she asked to leave a flier for a local craft fair, Emily Palstring agreed and offered to make some space for her in the store, as well. 

The stock at the store is just a small percentage of what she sells, Kling said, but it contributes to her total sales. 

Before they purchased Great Freight, Emily Palstring was a stay-at-home mom, an experience she’s used to shape Great Freight’s approach. She wants it to be a place where customers feel comfortable spending time. 

The signs of that approach are evident. Emily and Steve said they get regulars now, who send postcards, call when they’ve been away awhile and just pause to chat – Emily said the check-out counter often feels more like a kitchen counter.

“Our customers are more than just customers to us,” she said.


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